River feeding frenzyDan Selby | First Published: April 2009

Warm days and cool nights, the kids back at school and the ski boat activity tapers right down – all this adds up to great fishing on the Hawkesbury.

Good catches of bream, flathead and jewfish will be the highlight this month.

With the days fast becoming shorter, the water temp will start to drop and send these species into a feeding frenzy.

Plenty of good-sized bream have been caught in recent times with the good old Hawkesbury prawn being the No 1 bait. Live and dead prawns have accounted for fish to 1.5kg.

The most productive spot is in between Wisemans Ferry and Lower Portland, with Dads Corner a hot favourite.

Vibrating metals like the TT Switchblades are still taking plenty of fish as well. Used with a bit of your favourite scent, the bream can’t seem to resist.

Broken rubble rock walls are producing the best results with this approach.

The flathead this year have been nothing short of saviours, with most fishos coming home with a feed.

Prawns, live poddy mullet and tailor are all taking fish at present but don’t forget a few packets of plastics.

If it’s quiet at anchor, pull up and do some drifting. While the baits are dragging behind, cast soft plastics to either side. The idea is to cover as much water as possible.

Trolling hardbodies is another great technique for covering water and I’ve found the FeralCatt range in the 3m and 5m varieties get down to the fish with ease.

The flatties are still well spread out through the system so if one spot seems quiet, move to the next and so on.

JEWIES PICK UP

Jewfish went a little quiet in the Hawkesbury but have come back with a vengeance.

They will feed hard this month before the cold snap sends them packing downstream.

The water up-river has cleared nicely and the fish have come to the party.

Undersized soapy jew have been abundant for those soaking dead baits but to fool that big one, you must use live bait. Live prawns, mullet, tailor and herring are not that hard to come by so put in that little bit of extra effort and results should speak for themselves.

The jewfish will move up around Dads Corner, then head back as the water temperature drops.

Lure fishers have had some notable captures lately with a 96cm jew taken on a hardbody by Clint Thorpe after dark around the bridges.

Bass and estuary perch will start to school up this month and this makes for some exciting fishing.

Casting soft plastics, hardbodies and those flash new blades should produce double-figure sessions in the upper reaches.

Look for eddies around major bends and don’t discount the inside of the corner on the weed beds. Bass may sit a little higher on the structure and hit you on the ‘drop’ but sinking that lure to the bottom with a couple of flicks and twitches will see a few estuary perch come to the boat.

Pontoons and other artificial structure such as boat ramps will hold fish as well, so cover the water and see what’s working on the day.

For all the latest gear and advice drop in and see the guys at Windsor Bait and Tackle.